He snapped a leg off one of the chairs and bore it before him.

  Two more bolts pierced Edward’s body. He slumped harshly and suddenly to the floor. His eyes wandered to the stairs just as Vilmos disappeared down the hall. Life drained from his limbs.

  * * *

  Just like these men, Seth directed to Galan—it was almost a curse. They lied! The Kingdom is hardly returning to a state of peace… They fear their neighbor’s every action. They greeted us with the same fear.

  Galan touched her hand to Seth’s shoulder, whispering into his mind alone, We have done our best; they will listen. It is fated…

  Adrina, unable to hear their private thoughts, said, “Today is not yesterday. You’ll see. The waiting will be over soon. Do you want me to send for refreshments?” She was trying—in the only way she knew how—to be helpful.

  Princess Adrina, we do not want any refreshments, shot back Seth, his thoughts angry.

  He didn’t mean that, Adrina. Did you, Seth? Galan directed the thoughts now, Seth, how could you? She didn’t deserve that. She is not the one you are angry with. Are we so far away from our homeland that Queen Mother’s love cannot find and fill our hearts?

  Seth was worried. He had perceived the many turnings in the conversation. The decision could go either way and waiting helped nothing, it only furthered his doubts.

  Pretending she had not heard Seth’s remark, Adrina tried again to spark a conversation. Galan tried to join in at first, but after a time she too became quiet.

  The hours drifted by. Each falling into the next with slow persistence.

  As her unease grew, Adrina had to restrain herself. She wanted to burst through the double doors. The antechamber doors had been open before. She had heard most of the discussion. She didn’t understand the need to delay or why they were deliberating. And she understood Seth’s bitterness. She had been so driven once.

  Determined to break the silence, she did so. “Are you hungry? We can lunch here if so.” Galan admitted she was hungry, as did Seth after Galan prodded him. Adrina found a servant and sent him to the kitchen to bring a light meal.

  The servant had just returned when the great doors opened and Seth and Galan were beckoned to come back to the triangular council table. Even before he sat Seth read the thoughts of the council members. He knew the choice of everyone in the room. He could only sit and listen to the resolution as Chancellor Yi spoke it.

  “Unanimous decision,” said Chancellor Yi. “We understand the hardship of your journey and regret the decision, but we cannot support you in your endeavor. The meeting is concluded.”

  Seth hurled a wave of his will through the minds of the council, forcing tears. His anger was non-selective, so even Adrina, seated in the antechamber, felt it.

  Seth, win through diplomacy, directed Galan to Seth’s mind alone, Use your knowledge; hope is not lost!

  Seth searched their minds, seeking the ones who understood what was at hand. “Keeper Martin, you know the ways of Aven and Riven—you must. Surely you of all people know the truth of what I speak. You know what must be done. How can you sit idle? I have given the scroll to Chancellor Yi surely you have read it?”

  Keeper Martin raised an eyebrow as he turned to the chancellor and back to Seth.

  You haven’t, directed Seth to Keeper Martin. They didn’t tell you, did they?

  Seth turned to Father Jacob—the priest was another who should see truth. “Mother Earth cries out! The Father begs you listen! Can you not see this? Can you not feel the waters crest?”

  Seth turned to Chancellor Yi. The decision was not a unanimous one! You have tangled the truth with lies! You haven’t told anyone of the scroll?

  Chancellor Yi stood, indignation on his face. “Brother Seth, we understand the way you feel—the decision was unanimous and final. We will hold no further discussion, please, no more outbursts!”

  Galan held a restraining hand on Seth’s leg. Seth glared and screamed into her mind, Fear and anger are emotions these men heed most often! Let them see anger and let them know fear!

  Seth wait, faith! returned Galan, Look to Adrina…

  The council grew quiet. Galan squeezed her nails into Seth’s leg as his emotions flared.

  Chancellor Yi turned to King Andrew, “The resolution stands. I move to dismiss the council.” King Andrew nodded. The chancellor said, “The meeting is at an end.”

  No, Seth, no! directed Galan to Seth, but her words of restraint could not stop him. Just as Adrina passed into the chamber from the anteroom, Seth jumped from his chair and began to lash out. The council cowered back from him, truly afraid, while those around King Andrew moved between their king and Seth.

  Adrina stared openly at Seth and he stopped. Her eyes next fell on Father Jacob. She did not say a word, but her gaze forced words to Jacob’s mouth. “Perhaps a review is in order, Your Majesty. There are some things that I have not stated, things that—”

  King Andrew glared at the priest.

  Keeper Martin said, “I believe Father Jacob has a point, perhaps we have been overly cautious. Our own concerns are centered on the affairs of the South. Perhaps our view is narrow. I would second the motion for a review. This decision is best not made hastily.”

  Chancellor Yi scoffed and held his ground.

  King Andrew said, “A second has been put forth. Are there any who would object to a review tomorrow?”

  Tomorrow? screamed Seth.

  Seth! Galan directed the thoughts. Faith!

  Adrina cast an angry glare around the chamber, then escorted Galan and Seth outside. Feelings of disappointment flowed through her mind as she walked alongside the two. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I should have requested an audience with my father to discuss this yesterday. If he saw what I saw in Quashan’, through my eyes, the decision might have been different.”

  No, said Seth, It is the will of the Father. We will try again tomorrow and this time we will not fail. I am truly sorry about my behavior. There is no excuse for it. I hope you will be gracious enough to forgive me.

  “I know what it is to be so driven,” whispered Adrina to herself, forgetting that the two could read minds.

  Tomorrow then, said Seth.

  “Then you have a plan?”

  I will find one.

  “Can you not show them your world? Perhaps then they will understand,” said Adrina forgetting that Galan had been exhausted after the momentary image gifted to a single mind.

  Show them my world, repeated Seth as he reached into Adrina’s mind.

  Galan’s face showed fear. No, you mustn’t! We will find another way! Promise you won’t?

  Seth tightened the seal on his mind and walked away.

  * * *

  Emel cursed. He should have been halfway to Mellack but he wasn’t.

  He waited, a bit claustrophobic in the small space behind the door. As the door swung open he stifled a breath. As the door swung closed he swept passed, clasping a hand firmly to the girl’s mouth.

  “Not a word,” he whispered. “Be still and this will be over quickly.”

  She bit him. He removed his hand, started to say something. She spoke first. “Take what you want and be quick. You’ll do nothing that hasn’t been done before.”

  Emel swung Myrial around. “Well then. This will be quick, won’t it?”

  “I thought you had gone?” Myrial’s heart raced. “You should have gone.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Gone to council with the elves some hours ago. Why are you sneaking around?”

  “Indeed why?” said another voice. Emel and Myrial turned as Adrina slipped into the room from the private entry door. “What are you doing here, Emel? You should have been at Ispeth by now.”

  Emel was still holding Myrial’s wrists. He let go as his eyes went from Myrial to Adrina. “Orders have changed, I’m to go to High Road instead.”

  “High Road?” Adrina said it like it was a dirty word. “That can’t be.”

  “I’ve come back for the orb. I think I’ll need it. Have you learned anything about it that will be useful?”

  “Nothing.” Adrina looked to Myrial then back to Emel. “You don’t want it. It’s nothing but a bauble, you said so yourself.”

  Emel went to Adrina’s writing table. “Is it here?”

  Adrina moved between Emel and the desk. “I think it’s best left here. If you must go to High Road your thoughts should be on other things.”

  Myrial moved beside Adrina, reaching for the small leather pouch hidden away within the desk. Emel stopped her, grabbing her hand and the pouch. “Don’t worry so. I’m thinking clearly, Adrina. I know what I must do.”

  “Don’t do this for me. I don’t want you to—I’d rather you went to the Territories.”

  Realizing he was still holding Myrial’s hand which cupped the pouch, Emel snatched the pouch away and took a step back. “Tell me what you know about the orb. I will do my part in this. Not for you, but because I want to.”

  Myrial turned up Emel’s hand, opened the drawstrings on the pouch, removed the orb. “Rub it in your hands,” she said. “Squeeze and focus. The power flows.”

  Adrina was surprised and it showed.

  “I have eyes,” said Myrial. “I’ve seen you with it—I’ve tried it.”

  “Then you must know?”

  “I know—I know very well the pull of it.”

  “Galan said I must find control or it would control me. She’s teaching me how to breathe and focus. If you don’t do this, the emotions—the anger—”

  “I don’t plan to use it, Adrina. I’m not a believer. I think though that if I have it my task will be easier. When I’ve finished I’ll return it to you if it’s possible.”

  Adrina took the orb from Myrial. Emel tried to grab it away and for a few seconds both their hands touched the orb. Adrina’s eyes grew wide. “Oshywon,” she said, “What’s lost should stay lost.”

  “How could you possibly know?”

  Adrina put her hand over the top of Emel’s. “Think any thought and—” Her face went red. “Well except that! Think something else—yes, you should’ve removed Ebony’s bridle and saddle. It’s going to be a long night.”

  Emel snatched back his hand as if the orb and Adrina’s touch had burned him. “You couldn’t possibly know—”

  “You’re not going anywhere this evening so forget that notion of sneaking away as well,” said Adrina, “We have things to do—all of us!”

  “I’d rather—”

  “No,” said Adrina smiling. “You’re not going anywhere…” She turned to Myrial. “What him, watch him close. I’ve to see the elves, I’ll be back shortly.”

  Chapter Sixteen:

  Across the Distance

  Seth leaned back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was lost in thought.

  Galan attempted sleep but found none. Slowly her eyes found Seth. She stayed an urge to go to him but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him. She owed him so much and it hurt to feel the pain that flowed from his thoughts. She wished she could do something—anything that could take away the pain.

  The floor was cold against Galan’s bare feet. Lost in his plight, Seth didn’t notice her approach. A small voice told her not to go to him, yet a larger voice urged her on. She took the next step carefully and deliberately, knowing what it meant. Her conscious held her no more. There could be no turning back now.

  She was about to lie beside Seth when a light knocked summoned at the door. Seth looked up, Galan started. She retied the strands she held, fixing her dress into place, moving directly to the door.

  She touched a hand to the door, reaching out to the one who stood there. Yes? What is it?

  She opened the door, pointed to Seth.

  Father Jacob seemed disappointed to find Adrina absent, having wanted to speak to her as well as to the elves. “I wanted to speak to you about earlier. There are things that you don’t—”

  —Save your words, good Father Jacob. The fault rests on no one other than me. I should have seen this. I should have known…

  “Brother Seth, I must insist. Keeper Martin and I have been talking. We—”

  Latching onto Jacob’s hand, Galan led him from the chamber. Go, we will manage. She watched his retreating form until it mingled with the night shadows of the corridor. Thank you, she sent after him.

  Seth returned to his thoughts, reviewing every word of the council, searching for where he had erred, already knowing what he must do.

  Galan closed the door. For a time she stood quietly watching Seth. She would have turned away had the impulse not returned.

  She crossed to Seth’s bedside and touched delicate fingers to his hand, crouching down beside him and pressing her lips against his.

  A circle of heat bathed the two forms pressed tightly one against the other. Galan redirected her will now, probing with emotion absent of thought. A single finger traced her curves and briefly Seth returned the passion that flowed to him.

  Reality soon crept in. Seth reached deep within to find restraint. He touched a finger to Galan’s lips. No more, I cannot. We must not.

  Is this not what you have longed for? Galan asked, tears in her eyes. Brother Liyan told me of your heart before we left Kapital. He told me to understand the desire even if those feelings did not find me. Such feelings are not lost on me. I need you beside me this night.

  Seth put his arm around her, closed his eyes. Before he drifted away to sleep he created a wall of thought around them to ensure the night would not be disturbed again.

  * * *

  Vilmos ran across a dusty plain without knowing how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was running up the stairs of the inn. Nervously, he glanced over his shoulder, catching glimpses of the inn and its surrounding structures. It seemed no one followed.

  He didn’t know where he could go. He didn’t know anything about this area or Under-Earth. He could run, but to where he did not know. He did know that he must find Xith.

  Find the shaman, run, that’s what Edward told him—and he was running. He was running as fast as his legs could carry him, faster than he had ever run before.

  There was a small rise behind the inn. He was running up it when he slipped, falling backward, twisting. He stood to find he was staring at the inn instead of up the hill. The world was still spinning so he couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t spinning with it.

  He was about to turn back up the hill when his thoughts registered what he saw—horses, strange, abnormally large, but horses just the same. He had never seen such a wondrous sight, then he wondered if he could get to the horses before the hunter beasts found him.

  Before he made a decision his feet were running toward the three black horses tethered at the back of the inn. The first horse screamed and reared up to the limit of its tether when he approached.

  He backed away, keeping a wary distance, approaching a different horse, one that did not shy away.

  Perhaps it was fear or the rush of adrenaline, but he had ridden for nearly an hour before he realized that he had escaped—or so it seemed. He also realized that he had never been on a horse before without someone alongside him to help him along. He felt suddenly alone and confused. Where was he riding to? Was there anywhere he could go that would be safe? Where was Xith?

  He reigned in the horse. He could hear his heart beating in his ears. It was in that moment, when all the world seemed to echo the thump-thump-thump in his ears, that he could feel the wildness of the land. It was speaking to him, calling out, telling him to go.

  Driven by the voice, Vilmos rode. It wasn’t until much later after he calmed and his heart stopped pounding in his ears that he started to wonder why the hunter beasts never followed him. Images of the gnarl-faced beasts still chilled his thoughts. He wondered what had become of Edward, momentarily refusing to accept that Edward might be dead.

  He thought maybe Edward killed the strange beasts and that was why they did not chase him. Yet the look on Edward’s face as he fell was unmistakable—it was death that Vilmos had seen in those eyes. He also wondered if maybe the bastards followed him and were waiting for him to rest, and then they would pounce.

  The horse of the beastmen was strangely resolute and powerful, galloping at speeds that amazed him. The animal seemed to be driven by the desires of its rider and was able to sustain high speeds for long periods without fatigue. If his sixth sense was urging the animal on, it was also guiding the animal along the trail back to a place he knew well. Soon he found himself at the magical gate he and Xith had used what seemed so long ago, his mind spinning so rapidly that he opened and triggered the gate without a second thought.

  It could have been minutes, hours or days later that he found himself near the Trollbridge, the steady steed beneath him. The world faded to black until he found himself near a cave on an open valley floor. It was the cave where he and Xith had spent the night what seemed ages ago. Here he stopped. Both to rest the horse and to search the cave for signs—any sign that Xith had been there recently. He found nothing, only emptiness. The next day he continued on, driven on.

  He soon perceived other agonies: hunger, thirst and weariness. He chanced on a small brook, the same brook where he and Xith had stopped many weeks previous, drinking from its cool clear waters until his thirst was quenched and his belly full. Seeing no signs of anyone near, he sat along the edge of the water and removed his shoes, bathing his sore feet in the cool, soothing waters.

  Hours later as the sun sank low on the horizon, he was on the opposite side of a valley. A sudden peace swept over him as he made the long climb from the valley floor out onto a rocky precipice. He felt as if he had come home, and indeed he had.

  Breathing deeply, he looked back across the valley, amazed at how much ground he had covered. It would have taken several days to cross the valley on foot.

  The strange, powerful horse of the beastmen showed its first signs of fatigue now, and he was utterly exhausted as well. He let the horse cool down for a time, stroking its long, firm neck and mane.

 

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